This international biomedical conference will be held March 12-15, 2009 at Sheraton Sand Key Hotel in Clearwater, Florida. The purpose of this meeting is to foster exchange of the most recent findings and ideas in novel rapidly developed field of research: regulatory myeloid suppressor cells. Recent years have brought a wealth of information about the important role of these cells in cancer, sepsis, infections, trauma, autoimmunity, and other pathologies. There is growing evidence pointing out on that the expansion of these regulatory cells may represent a common response to all forms of inflammation. A number of studies have suggested that these cells can be a myeloid analog of regulatory T cells due to their high plasticity in response to various stimuli and high potential to suppress ongoing immune responses. Several clinical trails currently target these cells with the goal to improve the immune response in cancer. However, the field as well as the term "regulatory myeloid cells" is highly controversial and many issues remain unresolved. It appears that it is now an excel- lent time to bring together scientists from different fields to discuss various aspects of the expansion, accumulation, differentiation, regulation, and function of these cells in a broad context of immunology of cancer and other diseases. There is a pressing need for the entire field to discuss already described and new emerging mechanisms to see how they can be put together in more or less cohesive structure. Special emphasis will be placed on new approaches to therapeutic correction of accumulation of regulatory myeloid cells in cancer and other diseases. The overall objectives of this conference are: * Assess recent progress in our understanding of the role of myeloid suppressor cells in different pathological conditions; * Examine how different molecular pathways contribute to the function of myeloid suppressive cells and affect immune response in cancer, trauma, autoimmune, and infectious diseases; * Evaluate different mechanisms of immune suppression in cancer and other diseases; * Discuss impact of these mechanisms of therapy of different pathological conditions; * Review and discuss how our knowledge of myeloid suppressor cells can be translated into new therapeutics. Public Health Relevance: Recent years have brought a wealth of information about the important role of immune suppressive myeloid cells in cancer, sepsis, infections, trauma, autoimmunity, and other pathologies. There is growing evidence to suggest that the expansion of these regulatory cells may represent a common response to all forms of inflammation. A number of studies have suggested that these cells can be a myeloid analog of regulatory T cells due to their high plasticity in response to various stimuli and high potential to sup- press ongoing immune responses. Several clinical trails target these cells with the goal to improve the immune response in cancer. However, the field as well as the term "regulatory myeloid cells" is highly controversial and many issues remain unresolved. It appears that it is an excellent time now to bring together scientists from different fields to discuss various aspects of the expansion, accumulation, differentiation, regulation, and function of these cells in a broad context of immunology of cancer and other diseases. We plan to bring together scientists from diverse areas of research working on myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC), regulatory (suppressive) dendritic cells, as well as suppressive macrophages. We hope that this meeting generates productive discussion and fosters new collaborations, helpful for the development of this field. In addition to specialized sessions, we plan to have several plenary lectures presented by scientists who are not necessarily involved in study of myeloid suppressive cells but whose work may directly impact this field. The conference will be held from March 12 through March 15 2009 at Sheraton Sand Key Resort, 1160 Gulf Bulevard, Clearwater Beach, FL 33767 located on the Pinellas Suncoast, just 21 miles west of the Tampa International Airport.